Tithis

Tithi, “the lunar days”

The tithis are the lunar days of the month. The Varāha Purāṇa gives the origin and meaning of each one, from Pratipad (the first day) to Amāvāsyā (the new moon). Each tithi was linked by Brahmā, or by an event, to one deva or group of devas, and each has its own observance. The Varāha Purāṇa covers them in Chapters 18–35. The Nārada Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 89, adds the rules for finding the correct tithi for a vrata or śrāddha.

The Agni Purāṇa adds its own teaching on the tithis. Agni Deva gives the five groups of tithis, Nandā, Bhadrā, Jayā, Riktā and Pūrṇā, each matched to one of the five svaras (vowels) of the Yuddhajayārṇava; the tithis that are good or to be avoided for marriage, learning, boats, farming and cattle; the festivals of Śrī Mahāvishṇu and Devī Durgā fixed by tithi; the yogas of weekday, tithi and nakshatra; and, in his teaching to Vasishṭha, the rules for choosing the tithi of a vrata and the vratas of each tithi in order. In the rites, the pañcamī is the day of the daily Gaja-śānti, and at the abhisheka of a king the tithi is invoked with the other limbs of Kāla (time) to protect him.

The tithis and their devas

Principles for all tithis

1. Each tithi has a presiding deva and a particular observance.
2. Keeping the vrata of a tithi properly gives iha-loka phala (results in this world: health, wealth, children) and para-loka phala (results in the next world: svarga, Vishṇu-loka, Brahmaloka).
3. Even an accidental or partial observance has value.
4. Women and men of all varṇas can keep these vratas.

The Kali Yuga

The Varāha Purāṇa says again and again that in Kali Yuga the result is gained very simply:

“In the Kṛtayuga, one year of bhakti. In Tretā, six months. In Dvāpara, three months. In Kali, simply saying ‘Namo Nārāyaṇāya’ gives the same result.”

Tithi-nirṇaya in the Nārada Purāṇa

Sanakar Maharshi tells the Nārada Purāṇa‘s rules for tithi-nirṇaya (the finding of the correct tithi) in Pūrvārdha, Chapter 89. They apply to vratas and to śrāddha. The teaching begins with this principle: every Śrauta, Smārta, vrata and dāna karma is fruitless if it is done on a wrongly fixed tithi.

Tithis fit and unfit for fasting

The tithis Ekādaśī, Ashṭamī, Shashṭhī, Pūrṇimā, Caturdaśī and Tṛtīyā are prāśasta (fit) for upavāsa and vrata when they are viddhā (touched) by the tithi that follows (para-tithi-viddhā). They are not fit when they are touched by the tithi before (pūrva-tithi-viddhā).

Three cases are declared wholly unfit for upavāsa:

• Shashṭhī touched by Pañcamī (nāga-viddhā shashṭhī)
• Saptamī touched by Shashṭhī (śiva-viddhā saptamī)
• Daśamī touched by Ekādaśī (ekādaśī-viddhā daśamī)

Amāvāsyā, Pūrṇimā, Saptamī and pitṛvāsara (the day for the ancestors) touched by the tithi before lead to naraka.

Some scholars hold that in the kṛshṇa-paksha, Saptamī, Caturdaśī, Tṛtīyā and Navamī touched by the tithi before are prāśasta.

The general rule is that śukla-paksha is preferred for all vratas. Pūrvāhṇa (the forenoon) is preferred over aparāhṇa (the afternoon) for keeping a vrata. If the tithi is not present in the pūrvāhṇa, take the tithi that falls within two muhūrtas after sunrise.

Saṃkrānti puṇya-kālas

The Purāṇa fixes the length of the puṇya-kāla (the holy time) for snāna (bathing) and japa at each solar saṃkrānti (entry of the sun into a new sign).

If a solar eclipse or a lunar eclipse falls on a saṃkrānti, japa and dāna are done only during the eclipse itself. If the sun or moon sets while still in eclipse, one bathes the next day, after seeing the clear disk, and only then eats.

Amāvāsyā: Sinīvālī and Kuhū

The Purāṇa gives the old twofold division of Amāvāsyā:

• Sinīvālī is the Amāvāsyā when the moon can be seen. Sāgnīhotri brāhmaṇas (those who keep the sacred fire) use it for śrāddha.
• Kuhū is the Amāvāsyā when the moon cannot be seen. Women, śūdras and those without the sacred fire use it.

When Amāvāsyā comes only after midday, the scholars call it bhūtaviddhā. Where Amāvāsyā spans two days, the choice follows the general rule of aparāhṇa-vyāpitā (being present in the afternoon), with several cases:

• If only the first day has the afternoon (aparāhṇa-vyāpti), take the first day.
• If the first day is very short (kshīṇa), take the Sinīvālī that is present at sāyāhna (dusk).

The general rule for all cases is to avoid bhūtaviddhā and to prefer the Kuhū that is present in the afternoon (aparāhṇa-vyāpinī) for pitṛ-karmas (rites for the ancestors).

Ekādaśī: the detailed rules

The Nārada Purāṇa gives the most exact rules for fixing the Ekādaśī tithi.

• Ekādaśī touched by Daśamī (daśamī-viddhā) destroys the puṇya gathered over three lifetimes (janma-traya-saṃcita-puṇya-nāśana). It must never be kept.
• Even a single kalā of Ekādaśī on Dvādaśī is held to be highly auspicious.
• Pure Ekādaśī that runs into Dvādaśī: if Trayodaśī is also present at the end of the night, householders (gṛhasthas) keep the first day (Ekādaśī) and yatis (renunciates) keep the second (Dvādaśī). Householders seek phala-siddhi (success in results) and yatis seek moksha.
• If even a kalā of Dvādaśī remains, fast on the Ekādaśī touched by Daśamī. This is an exception to the general rule.
• Two Ekādaśīs in the same paksha (vṛddhi Ekādaśī): householders take the first and yatis take the second.
• Ekādaśī joined with Daśamī, with Dvādaśī lasting only a moment (kālamātra) and a loss of tithi (tithi-kshaya): all, householders and yatis, take the second day.
• If Dvādaśī is absent on the second day: even an Ekādaśī touched by Daśamī must be kept.
• If Ekādaśī and Dvādaśī both end before the night of Trayodaśī: fast on Dvādaśī and break the fast (pāraṇa) on Trayodaśī.
• Pure Dvādaśī (śuddha dvādaśī): the most authoritative position is that a pure Dvādaśī is to be kept as the upavāsa day.

Eclipse rites and prohibitions

Eating within three muhūrtas before a solar eclipse is forbidden. It brings a pāpa equal to surāpāna (drinking liquor).

The Purāṇa gives the mantras for the eclipse homa:

• For a lunar eclipse: the ṛk “Daśame soma”, the ṛk “Āpyāyasva” and the mantra “Somapāsta”.
• For a solar eclipse: the mantras “Udutyaṃ jātavedasam” and “Āsatyena” are used for the homa.

If an eclipse falls during the anvadhāna-yoga period of a yāga, prāyaścitta is required.

The closing teaching

The chapter closes by saying that dharma is laid down by the Vedas, and that following dharma pleases Śrī Hari. Those who are dharma-para (given to dharma) reach the paramapada (highest state) of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Those who practise dharma are in truth the very form of Śrī Kṛshṇa. So no saṃsāra-vyādhi (the disease of worldly entanglement) can touch those who are devoted to the conduct of dharma.

Per Agni Purāṇa

In the Agni Purāṇa the tithis are taught by Agni Deva, chiefly in his account of jyotiḥśāstra (the science of the luminaries and of the right time for every act) and of the Yuddhajayārṇava, the “ocean of victory in battle”, which he gives as Bhagavān Śiva told it to Devī Pārvatī.

The five groups of tithis and the svaras

In the Yuddhajayārṇava Agni Deva teaches, for the success of auspicious acts such as victory, that the five svaras (vowels) a, i, u, e and o have, in their order, the tithis Nandā, Bhadrā, Jayā, Riktā and Pūrṇā. The consonants, from “ka” to “ha”, come after the svaras.

The text names the members of two of these groups:

• The Bhadrā tithis are dvitīyā, saptamī and dvādaśī (the 2nd, 7th and 12th).
• The Riktā tithis, the “empty” tithis, are caturthī, navamī and caturdaśī (the 4th, 9th and 14th).

In the Rāhu-cakra (the wheel of Rāhu), drawn with seven lines across and seven lines down, the tithis of the śukla paksha (bright fortnight), from pratipad to pūrṇimā, are written from the north-west through the south-west to the south-east, and the tithis of the kṛshṇa paksha (dark fortnight), from pratipad to amāvāsyā, from the south-east through the north-east to the north-west. This is the placing of Rāhu in the form of the tithis. One who sets out on a journey towards Rāhu’s mouth fails in that journey.

Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 121, 123

Tithis for the acts of life

Agni Deva names the tithis to choose and the tithis to avoid:

• Marriage is not auspicious on a riktā tithi, nor in the months Caitra and Pausha, nor while Śrī Mahāvishṇu sleeps, nor on Tuesday or Sunday, nor when the moon is waning.
• The beginning of letters (akshara-ārambha), in a child’s fifth year, is done leaving out pratipad, shashṭhī, the riktā tithis and pūrṇimā, and Tuesday; on the other tithis and days one worships Bhagavān Vishṇu and begins the letters.
• A boat is best built on dvitīyā, tṛtīyā, pañcamī, saptamī and trayodaśī.
• Ploughing and other field work are done on dvitīyā, pañcamī, daśamī, saptamī, tṛtīyā and trayodaśī, with the right nakshatras, weekdays and lagnas.
• Cattle are not taken out of the cowshed for sale, and cattle that have been bought are not brought in, on ashṭamī, amāvāsyā and caturdaśī.
• The tripushkara yoga falls when the bhadrā tithis (dvitīyā, saptamī, dvādaśī) come on pāda-nakshatras and the day is Sunday, Saturday or Tuesday.

From kṛshṇa ashṭamī to śukla ashṭamī the moon is kshīṇa (waning and weak); after that it is pūrṇa (full). The full moon of Jyeshṭha is Mahājyeshṭhī when the Sun is in Vṛshabha or Mithuna, Guru (Bṛhaspati) in Mṛgaśirā or Jyeshṭhā, and the day is Thursday; it is also Mahājyeshṭhī when Guru and the moon are in Jyeshṭhā and the Sun in Rohiṇī.

The festivals of Śrī Mahāvishṇu and of Devī Durgā are fixed by tithi:

• When the Sun is in Mithuna, on the dvādaśī after amāvāsyā, the śayana-utsava, the festival of Śrī Mahāvishṇu’s sleeping, is held.
• When the Sun is in Siṃha and in Tulā, on the dvādaśīs after amāvāsyā, the parivartana-utsava (the festival of his turning) and the jāgaraṇa-utsava (the festival of his waking) are held.
• When the Sun is in Kanyā, the ashṭamī after amāvāsyā is the Durgā-jāgaraṇa, the vigil of Devī Durgā.

The next chapter gives the reckoning (kāla-gaṇana) by which the weekday, tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karaṇa are found from the count of years and months, with the corrections to their mean values.

Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 121–122

Yogas of weekday, tithi and nakshatra

In the Yuddhajayārṇava Parameśvara tells the Devī of the joinings of weekday, tithi and nakshatra:

After the Saturday joining the text adds daśamī with Āśleshā, which causes affliction, and pūrṇimā with Maghā, which gives death.

Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 125

The tithi of a vrata

Agni Deva, teaching Vasishṭha the rules of vratas, gives the rules of tithis:

• For monthly and yearly vratas, when a tithi extends over two days, the tithi on the second day is the better; the first is malina (impure).
• For day-vratas, the tithis that prevail through the day, and for night-vratas (nakta), the tithis that prevail through the night, give puṇya and are auspicious.
• The good joinings (yugma) of tithis are dvitīyā with tṛtīyā, caturdaśī with pūrṇimā, and amāvāsyā with pratipad. These give great fruit. The opposite joining (pratipad with dvitīyā and so on) is fearful: it destroys even the puṇya done before.
• For a king, a minister and one in the middle of a vrata, in marriage, in calamities, in a place hard to reach, at a time of crisis and in war, purity at that very time (tat-kāla-śuddhi) is declared.

From amāvāsyā to amāvāsyā is the cāndra-māsa (lunar month), and it is the month for śrāddha and the other rites for the pitṛs.

Then Agni Deva gives the vratas of each tithi in order, from pratipad onward. Among the ashṭamī vratas, the ashṭamī of the kṛshṇa paksha of Bhādrapada joined with Rohiṇī is called Jayantī, for on it, at midnight, Śrī Kṛshṇa descended. One who fasts on that day is freed from the pāpas of seven births.

Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 175, 183

Tithis in the rites

• In the pavitrāropaṇa, the offering of the sacred threads, the upāsaka prepares the yāga-gṛha (the house of the rite) on the evening of the saptamī or the trayodaśī.
• Śālihotra teaches that on the pañcamī tithi the daily (nitya) Gaja-śānti, the rite that keeps the elephants free of disease, is performed: Vishṇu, Lakshmī and Airāvata, Brahmā, Śaṅkara, Indra, Kubera, Yama, Candra, Sūrya, Varuṇa, Vāyu, Agni, Pṛthivī, Ākāśa, Ādi-śesha, the mountains and the elephants of the directions are worshipped, with homas and dakshiṇās.
• In the mantras for the abhisheka of a king, which Pushkara gives to Paraśurāma, the tithi is named with the mahākalpa, kalpa, manvantara, yuga, saṃvatsara, varsha, ayana, ṛtu, māsa, paksha, night, day, sandhyā and muhūrta: “May these limbs of Kāla protect you.”

Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 78, 219, 291

Sources

• Varāha Purāṇa, Chapters 18–35
• Nārada Purāṇa, Pūrvārdha, Chapter 89
• Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 78, 121–123, 125, 175, 183, 219, 291